A Lot of Getting Used To
by OubliBette
Summary: An original character whose powers resemble Magneto's is discovered by the X-Men and targeted by the Brotherhood. He arrives at Xavier's and finds out, guess what? It's still tough being different. Slash as things unfold, mild sex.
1. Discoveries

Jakob was glad to get up extra early that morning and scarf down a bowl of Rice Krispies so he could hop in his car - well, the car his parents let him drive - and head to the high school before Mom and Dad woke. They had promised him there would be a long talk after the incident at dinner last night, but luckily they had apparently forgotten that he'd need to be on the four-hour bus ride with his grad class to the science centre in another town.

Mom had been hysterical, probably terrified, she'd shrieked and sobbed. But it was Dad's stone silence, downcast eyes and impenetrable expression that discomforted Jakob most.

Jakob really wished right now that he had cleared the internet browser history.

Being confronted about the x-rated contents was bad.

Those contents being explicitly homosexual in nature was worse.

The burning in Jakob's eyes and the floating metal silverware that hung in the air and then zinged off in all directions nearly putting out everyone's eyes and lodging in the walls and kitchen cupboard doors? That was a game-changer.

As Jakob sat on the rocking, bouncing schoolbus, he wished the field trip would never end. Maybe he'd just stay in Rosebud and get an apartment and never go home.

He could see how it would go. He would stay out with a friend as long as he could but eventually he'd have to go home, and when he did his mother would be sitting in the living room in a chair she hadn't moved from in hours, but then she'd start talking about other things in that small voice she used when she was trying to get Jakob to initiate the topic she wanted to talk about. She'd ask him how the ride through the countryside was, if the science centre was nice, she might say she'd gone with her grad class to Rosebud when she was seventeen too. But they'd run out of reason to beat around the bush and Jakob would walk away and shut himself in his room, and he'd imagine that she was still sitting there but that she would start to cry when he left. Then his father would come home and Jakob would be called to dinner and they'd sit there in an awkward silence that forced Jakob to feel a shame he knew he didn't deserve and then Mom would meekly say they all needed to talk and Dad would shout and then he and Jakob would yell at each other and Mom would blubber and it would be out of control but then maybe he could just fucking kill them with some flying cutlery...

"Well?" Emmy's big blue eyes stared at Jakob, and he blinked.

"Hm? Oh, uhh…is it bigger than a breadbox?"

"Nope," replied his best friend.

"Can you eat it?"

"Yeah."

"Was it ever alive?"

"Not exactly."

Jakob sighed and gave his brunette head a quick shake to clear it of his runaway ruminations. "Is it bread?"

"Yep," Emmy smiled at him as the bus went over a large bump and her blonde curls flopped about. "It was kind of alive once because it was like wheat and yeast and whatever. Ok, you go."

Jakob actually felt ever so slightly better having guessed correctly. He knew it was stupid, but he liked to win at anything, however trivial. He thought for a minute, looking around for inspiration. There was a girl with a bright headband. No, too obvious. There was Craig, the popular jock who still had braces. He was flashing them over the back of his seat to some girl, flirting. Yeah, braces. Emmy wouldn't guess that. He looked at her. But there was something else - something she wouldn't have guessed that he was dying to tell someone.

"Hey, Em?"

She looked at him expectantly, sucking her cheeks in and doing a weird fish face to make him laugh, and he did smile in spite of himself.

"I, uh. I'm -"

Suddenly there was a loud, metallic screech and the bus heaved violently. Students gasped and shrieked and the bus started spinning - not just spinning out of control but revolving, hurtling forward at an increasing rate. Now people began to scream - Emmy and Jakob were thrown against their seats, then Jakob's face smashed against the seat in front, which was soft but his nose erupted in pain and he could feel it beginning to pour with blood as his vision blurred with stars and tears. Then everything lurched and the world turned upside-down - he caught a flash of Emmy being thrown from the seat, and then there was black.

He wasn't out long, he knew, because when Jakob blinked to his senses his blood-smeared face was warm and his shirt stained freshly red. His head pounded, his vision was hazy and he couldn't hear more than a ringing. The floor beneath him was cool metal - he crawled along it. No, the floor…the floor was the ceiling. The bus was upside-down. Unconscious or moaning students were strewn about the interior in varying states of catastrophe. He'd been thrown near the driver's seat - the driver was gone - out of the windshield he saw nothing but empty air. Where was the ground?

And then they were falling. The pit of Jakob's stomach dropped out and the air whistled as he could feel the bus plummet, and _there_ was the ground, and it was coming.

Someone screamed aloud, and the tearing from Jakob's gut through his throat told him it was himself. His headache grew deafening and his eyes grew hot and they were all going to die and something took over Jakob, welling up behind his eyes and coursing through his arms from somewhere deep in his chest. He didn't know what he was doing, was extending his arms and spreading his fingers and burning inside and screaming while the bus plunged them all to their violent deaths.

And then the bus touched the ground. Touched. Didn't crash into, didn't explode, didn't kill the seventy-odd teenagers on board. It touched down, and was quiet.

Jakob threw up.

There was a loud creak, and the bus door was wrenched from its hinges. Standing framed in the crude hole was a bulky, hairy, blue beast.

Jakob screamed again and scuttled back on his haunches.

"Ah, yes. I do apologize, my appearance can be startling, but please, be calm. We're here to help." The thing started to climb into the bus.

Jakob yelped and scurried down the corridor, climbed over unconscious classmates, found a broken window and squeezed out of it as the beast made a swipe for his ankle and missed.

Jakob tumbled out onto the dirt, clamored to his feet and broke out running. He sprinted like it was one of his track meets and didn't look back - that is, until a white-haired woman flew over his head. He gaped and craned his neck around only to see that he was being pursued by a man…a man with claws._ A man with metal claws._ Who was gaining on him.

"Oh JESUS WHAT THE FUCK!" Jakob cried, whirling around to face the charging man, who was only a few metres away. Jakob threw out his hand and felt the weird energy flow out of his fingertips; his pursuer froze, rose a few inches off the ground, claw-handed arms stretched out to his sides.

The man barked. "Kid! Don't do anything…jus' don't do anything!"

"Who are you?" Jakob begged, tears running freely down his cheeks now.

"Name's Logan, pleasure's all mine!" the clawed man shouted back. His voice was gruff and throaty. "Lissen, me an' my friends just saved all your butts from a whole heap o' trouble! Lemme down."

"Oh, God, who are you?" Jakob repeated, sobbing. "I did it. I did it! It was me."

The white-haired flying woman zipped back over from out of the sky, hovering between Jakob and the man he held suspended. "Jakob," she spoke softly, but with authority. "I know you are frightened. Please let us help you and your friends. Once we take you from here, we will explain everything. But we must go, this place is not safe."

"How do you know my name?"

"Let this man go," she pressed carefully. "There are more of us, and they are tending to the others on the bus. Let Logan help you away from here -" she slowly lowered to the ground, and took a step forward, opening her arms with her palms up, "and you have my word that all will be made clear."

Jakob bit his lip until it hurt. The clawed man grunted and wriggled. Jakob was terrified, but something in this woman's voice was honest, and soothed him."I...what about my friends...what about Emmy?"

"I assure you, we are seeing to it."

"I want to see for myself!" Jakob's emotional roller coaster seemed to be affecting his control over the man called Logan, who yelped.

"Watch it! This ain't exactly comfy. Make ya a deal. You put me down, and I'll personally get somebody to find...uh, an emmy for you."

Jakob shook his head and moved his mouth, but nothing came out. He slowly willed his hold on Logan to ebb.

As soon as he was on solid ground, the man started marching toward Jakob.

The woman looked over her shoulder and snapped, "Logan. Claws."

"Oops," Logan grunted, and the spikes on each hand retracted, and were gone with a _snikt_.

The woman rose up into the air again, and flew toward the overturned bus, where Jakob could see some of his classmates staggering out, helped by all manner of unusual figures.

Jakob, now silent and staring in dazed shock, felt the man's strong hand clap him on the shoulder.

"This way, kiddo. You like bikes?"

.

.

.

.

.

**So that's chapter 1, a quick intro to Jakob Novak - seems like he could have used more development here. I hope to bring him closer to readers in the following chapters, or maybe I'll have to go write some more for this bit. But in the meantime, please review!**


	2. Answers

Jakob did not heed Logan's warning to hold on immediately, but as soon as the motorcycle roared forward down the bumpy country backroad he quickly had to throw his arms around the other man's midsection or be tossed into the dirt. At first he timidly resisted cozying up too much, but as the wind ripped by him he lowered his head into the feral's back.

The cycle and rushing air made it too loud to talk, and though Jakob's head swam desperately with questions, he was grateful that Logan didn't seem much for conversation either. Jakob would not have known what to say first. And if these people meant him harm, he reasoned with himself, they could surely have inflicted it long before now.

Logan appreciated the kid's shock - he was miffed to be stuck nannying another pubescent mutant back to the Xavier Institute while the rest of the team looked after ground zero. What was he, a perpetual babysitter? He mused with chagrin that if any X-Man most lacked fatherly instinct, it must have been himself.

And so an hour or more passed in relative silence.

Finally, the bike slowed, and they puttered up to the gates of 1407 Graymalkin Lane. Jakob looked up at the dramatic wrought iron, and drew a small gasp as his eyes took in the magnificent grounds and mansion through the overcast afternoon gloom. A lighted sign on the brick wall read "Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters."

Logan reached over and pressed a button on a keypad on the inner side of the pillar, and at a crackling said, "It's me. Got the kid."

The gates swung inward slowly and the proceeded onto the extensive driveway, Jakob rather in awe of the size and beauty of the place, though to him it was austere.

Once inside the garage (filled with various exotic cars of makes Jakob had never seen), Logan parked and hopped off to hang up his helmet.

Jakob stood, and stretched his lower back.

Logan looked at him a moment. "So uh, this is it."

Jakob shook his head and dragged his hands down his face with an exhausted sigh. "This is a school?"

"And yer new home."

Jakob gaped incredulously before he could speak. "I-I have a family," he said with a disbelieving laugh. Was this guy for real?

"They know what you can do?"

Jakob's squirm replied well enough.

"Guess they ain't doin' cartwheels for joy about it then. Lissen, you can make the decision yerself in a few days' time if you wanna stay here. But for now," his tone grew serious, "yer a helluva lot safer with us." He gestured for Jakob to follow him inside, and went through the door.

Jakob trotted to catch up. "I just want some fucking straight answers, alright?"

They entered a richly carpeted, warmly lit hallway with chestnut brown wooden walls. Logan walked ahead without looking back, unzipping the bluish-black uniform jacket he was wearing with the yellow 'X' by the collar and throwing it over his shoulder, gray tank top underneath. "That's where we're headed." With his free hand, he produced a cigar and put it in his mouth. "If you say 'please'."

Jakob wanted to argue but he stopped himself, stuffing his hands in his pockets and trudging a few feet behind the other man, whom he thought kind of short for such a tough-guy. Jakob didn't know much about his ability, but he did know this guy was part metal and that meant he could mess him up if he wanted to. "Please," he muttered.

"'S more like it."

They rounded a corner into an adjoining corridor, but stopped at the first door on the left. Logan knocked.

"Come in," called a female voice.

Logan seemed to hesitate for a split second, which Jakob noticed curiously. Then, the door was open and they were inside what seemed to be an ornately decorated office.

An unconventionally striking beauty of a redhead was seated behind the desk, putting down a folder in front of her as she looked up to regard the two. She smiled, and it was kind, but not warm - more knowing, as she said hello to Logan and glanced at Jakob out of the corner of her eye.

"Hey Red. Where's the professor?"

"He left in a hurry for Scotland this morning, and you must be Jakob," she said in rather a rush, standing to extend her hand across the desk to him. "I'm Jean. Jean Grey."

Jakob shuffled forward and took the hand, and Jean held on longer than Jakob anticipated, awkwardly trying to let go but not being released until Jean had finished beaming at him. "Nice to meet you." She was still smiling, looking only at Jakob like he was the perfect engagement ring.

Logan cleared his throat. "I uh, think the kid wants to know a little bit about why he's here, who we are…"

Jean blinked and shook her head with a chuckle. "Oh, right, so sorry. It's just, I've been, you know. Why don't you have a seat, Jakob?" She indicated a chair across the desk from her own.

Jakob nodded soberly and slid into the cushy leather chair.

Logan leaned against the door smoking his cigar, and Jean glanced up at him.

"Logan, you can stay, but please. The cigar?"

The older man grunted, and Jakob could hear a sizzle and smell burned flesh. He whipped his head around to see Logan putting the ember out on his own palm. He turned back to Jean, stunned, who smilingly arched an eyebrow.

She began. "As you probably determined, you're at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. With the exception of Logan here, most of the adults around are teachers. English, math, sciences, all the usual topics. Student age ranges on average from fourteen to nineteen. And everyone here is also a mutant." She paused while Jakob's eyes widened. "Like you. Logan can heal his own wounds incredibly quickly-"

Jakob turned again to look at Logan, who smiled roguishly and raised his perfectly unmarked palm.

"-and I'm telekinetic." There was even a little playful mischief in Jean's pretty eyes now as several books started floating out of the shelves behind her and rearranging themselves, while she moved not a muscle. "I can also read minds. But don't worry," she said, off his predictably horrified expression, "I don't intrude uninvited."

Jakob wasn't much comforted by this, and he made sure that just in case there were any incriminating mental pictures of the man standing just a few feet over his shoulder that there was an annoying song playing loudly over them in his head. It was only at this moment that he realized he _had_, in fact, been noticing the shape of the other man's body and the scent of him, the heat of closeness during their bike ride. He hadn't the presence of mind to find it whatsoever arousing at the time, but of course…well, this train of thought certainly wasn't getting him any closer to hiding his most private thoughts from Jean. He hoped she really wasn't prying.

"You'll make friends just like yourself here, Jakob," Jean continued. "If you decide to stay, that is. I'd like to recommend you stay the night - we have a dormitory for you - and we will communicate with your parents on your behalf, if you like."

Jakob nodded, swallowing dryly.

"I'm sure you have questions?" Jean prompted.

"How do you know me?" Jakob blurted as the last syllable left Jean's lips.

"The short answer? I'm not the only psychic here," Jean leaned forward with a wink. "Professor Xavier, for whose absence I sincerely apologize, has a great deal more ability in that field than I do. He knew your power, and today he sensed you were in danger. So we came. Here, we help mutants however we can. Now, you've taken in a lot today and there's more to discuss, but we'll get to that tomorrow. You must be tired."

Jakob shook his head vehemently even as he rubbed his eyes. "No. Please, Miss Grey, I want to know. Anything. Everything. Why am I a mutant, are my parents mutants, what _is _a mutant-" _God, Emmy!_ he suddenly remembered with a pang of deep guilt. What about Em?

Jean raised a hand gently. "I'm sorry, Jakob, but I have to insist you rest for now." Before Jakob could open his mouth to protest that he felt fine, Jean tapped her left temple with a finger. "Intuition. Not that it takes a telepath to know you're worn out." She gathered a few of the papers in front of her and straightened them. "I'll have a good meal sent to your dormitory." She looked past Jakob at Logan, who was listening with his arms folded across his chest. "Logan, would you mind…?"

"Yeah, I'll show him," came the reply - gruff, but, Jakob noticed, much softened in the presence of a woman. Or perhaps in the presence of _this _woman. "Kid, hang tight in the hallway for a sec," he said. "I need a quick word with Red here."

Jakob thanked Jean and stood, exiting through the door Logan held open for him.

Logan let it click all the way shut before addressing her. "Jean. Why can't you give the kid a break, tell 'im why he's really here?"

Without even looking up from her papers, Jean replied, "Because I already know you're going to."

.

.

.

Logan walked Jakob up to his room - they didn't speak until they reached it and Jakob was inside, Logan in the doorway. "There's, uh, some pajamas. In the closet," he offered.

Jakob shrugged and sat down on the bed, besides which a desk and lamp were the only furnishings. He only blinked at Logan a couple times, having little to say (that he could safely articulate, anyway).

Logan shifted, and folded his arms across his chest, leaned. Something rebellious inside him fundamentally rejected wanting to fulfill Jean's prophecy of minutes ago, but he wrestled himself over it. "So, kiddo. You wanna know the real reason yer here?"

Jakob paused a moment, then sighed with a palms-skyward gesture of exasperation and defeat. "There's a real reason?"

Logan nodded, and smirked a bit in spite of himself, appreciative of the poor kid's display of attitude. "Yeah, there is. Red thinks you've had enough for today, but I think yer made o' tougher stuff. Now lissen up.

You heard about Professor Xavier? Guy who built this place and runs the show? He used to be best friends with this mutant we call Magneto. But they had a falling out, them two, when Professor X got wary o' Magneto's hatred for how humanity sometimes treats mutants as outcasts. See, the Professor wants the world to accept mutants so everybody can git along, but Magneto sees mutants as a superior race and wants to eliminate everybody else. So basically, he wants to take all of us down here at the Xavier Institute outta the picture.

You with me so far?" Logan checked, moving into the room to pull out the desk chair across from Jakob and sit on it backwards, with his arms resting across the top.

Jakob, frowning, nodded.

"Awright. So we been fightin' their guys and they been fightin' our guys for, hell, I can't even say how long. But here's the kicker, kid, this is where you come in. That stuff you can do? Magneto can do it too. The exact same. But he's real, real powerful." Logan paused to let Jakob digest the revelation.

Jakob was quiet, biting his lip. After several moments, he said, "So? What does that mean?"

"Means he wants you. Bad. We dunno exactly what for, but one of us has this theory that fits the puzzle. You remember Beast? Big hairy blue guy, think you met him earlier? He's the science whiz around here. He figures your ability can neutralize Magneto's mutation. Like when two magnets with the same poles repel. So I guess that means it neutralizes you too, but hey, our biggest threat powerless if you're around? Sounds like a win."

At this last, Jakob stopped considering how funny it must look when the guy named Beast was dressed up in a lab coat and spectacles reciting formulas and clinking test tubes.

"How ya feelin' now?" Logan asked, canting his head to the side like an inquisitive puppy.

Jakob started to laugh, and Logan raised an eyebrow. "So I'm kind of a big deal!" Jakob's shoulders shook as he laughed. He felt crazed and over exhausted and like he might even just fall asleep to find out it was all a wild dream in the morning. "Listen, I don't even know how I do what I do, much less how to save any of you if this all-powerful Magneto mutant shows up tonight and tears the place apart. If you guys are hanging your hats on this you better get a new coat rack."

Logan grinned wolfishly. "Algebra ain't the only thing they teach here, bub. You'll learn to master your inner freak show, I guarantee it. And it can be a helluva lotta fun."

Jakob wiped a tear from his eye and hooted mirthfully. "All I'm saying is hedge your bets. Boy, I sure think you got the wrong guy though. I'm not taking on any Magnetos anytime soon."

"So ya haven't figgered out it was him ruined yer little field trip, eh?"

Jakob froze.

Logan waited, letting the silence tease the boy.

"I…"

The older man raised his eyebrows.

"I…"

Logan smiled.

"…I'm tired," Jakob practically pleaded.

Logan stood up, swung his leg over the chair and slid it back under the desk in one fluid motion. "G'night, kid." He went to the door, then turned to look back at Jakob, who had taken on a ghastly pallour and was hugging his knees into his chest on the edge of the bed. "Oh, and you've got a test tomorrow. See Beast in the med lab when you get up." Logan grabbed the door handle and closed it behind him with one last grin at the tragic teenager before disappearing.

.

.

.

.

.

.


	3. Arrivals

Jakob managed to sleep for several hours without trouble, but the events of the day that had so exhausted him all occurred before lunch time - he woke up to a large sandwich plated on the desk, and his watch told him it was ten thirty at night. He wondered if Logan had brought the sandwich up, and the notion gave him a bit of a thrill. He supposed that realistically, there were probably hired help staff at the mansion who'd have done it, but he preferred his fantasy explanation. He hoped he didn't drool or snore or anything.

He rolled out of bed still dressed in his street clothes and felt instantly better than before his nap. He'd slept off the burning headache from the tears, the efforts exerted by using his ability, and cramming his brain full of all the dramatic new information, and he thought maybe now he'd explore the mansion. On the way out of his room he quickly noted the number on the door and hoped he could find his way back later.

There was no one about, though he occasionally passed a dormitory with light leaking out under the door or, once or twice, heard low voices in hushed conversation.

One corridor was blocked off by velvet rope and a sign that read "Instructors' Wing / No Student Access", so Jakob turned and headed for the stairs, descending into the main hall.

This level, he'd gathered, was devoted to classrooms, school offices and student lounges, perhaps a kitchen or two.

He wandered about, but classrooms were locked. He poked his head into what looked like a trophy room; visited the library but was afraid to turn on the lights and venture too far in for fear of snooping. On his way down the next hall, he heard laughter and two distinct voices coming from a room whose open door let light spill into the hallway and cast animated shadows of those inside.

Jakob listened intently, hugged the wall and edged to the doorway to eavesdrop.

"More like Bobby _Fake_. You been hustling me?"

"Ooh, who'd have thought Magma couldn't take the Iceman's heat?"

"I'm just getting warmed up, watch me light a fire under your icicles."

"Your red-hot punning makes me melt. Take a damn shot."

"Chill out or you'll get the cold shoulder."

"Booooooo."

Jakob leaned carefully, trying to get his eyes just far enough beyond the doorframe that he could peek inside. He saw a young female blonde wearing jeans and a pink t-shirt with her back to him, bent over a pool table and lining up her cue. At the far end leaning with his arms driven into the table to brace him was a boy, blond as well but of a darker shade, with incredible good looks that made Jakob's head say _hoooooolyshit_. He wore a blue t-shirt beneath which Jakob could make out lines of muscle definition.

The boy glanced up, looking right at Jakob who halfway started to pull his head back and hide behind the wall but stopped as he told himself that was weird and stupid.

"Hey," called the boy with a tilt of his chin and a slight frown.

The girl looked up at the boy and turned to see what was the matter; Jakob's heart leapt into his throat as she did, thinking at first she was Emmy.

But of course, she wasn't. She had the same big blue eyes, but these were sharper, less sweet - not so naïve.

She brandished her pool cue. "Hey," she echoed her pool partner, who sidled up next to her. "It's half an hour past curfew! What do you think you're doing?"

Jakob stepped sheepishly into the doorway. "Uh, sorry. I didn't know."

"What do you mean you didn't-"

The blond boy nudged her in the ribs with his elbow. "This must be the new guy."

The girl raised her eyebrows, and her expression softened. "Ohhhhh. You're that Novak kid?"

Jakob nodded, his mind having apparently given up being surprised that everyone in this place already knew him better than he felt he did himself. "I guess I am. Jakob."

The girl's eyes studied him intently. "I'm Alison, and this is Bobby."

Bobby strode forward and extended his arm, giving Jakob a firm handshake and smiling an effortlessly dazzling smile that made Jakob swallow hard.

"Sorry about her," Bobby jerked his thumb over his shoulder to indicate Alison. "We're on hall monitor duty."

"Yeah, you're uh…" Jakob eyed the billiards table, "hard at work I see."

"Well don't just stand there," Alison chimed in. "Come in, have a seat, relax." She started toward a refrigerator in the corner. "You want anything? Juice, soda, water? Beer?"

"I'm seventeen," Jakob sat down on a couch across from the pool table.

Bobby shrugged and leaned against the edge of the table facing Jakob. "We're both nineteen. But I know where Wolverine keeps his brewskies."

"Who's Wolverine?" Jakob asked, as Alison crossed the room again and handed him a bottle, then Bobby, and sat on an adjacent armchair with one for herself.

"Little guy with sideburns. We call him that because he's got these claws that-"

"Oh!" Jakob cut Alison off. "Logan?"

The blonds nodded in unison.

Jakob smiled, and chuckled lightly. "Wolverine, huh? Isn't that a little…cute?"

"Isn't _he_?" Bobby grinned and took a swig of his beer.

Jakob's stomach did a backflip while he tried not to turn bright red. _No. Way. _But maybe Bobby was kidding around?

"If by cute you mean vicious," helped Alison.

Jakob knew there was no way to press Bobby to clarify the statement without revealing himself or making Alison uncomfortable, so he changed the subject from Wolverine. "So what can you guys do?"

"Our mutations?" said Bobby. He held up his beer bottle and pointed to it with the other hand so Jakob would look, and from the hand holding it spread outward what appeared to be frost, which glazed over rapidly and became a thick layer of ice. "And I can do a lot more than that," Bobby waggled his eyebrows. "They call me Iceman."

Jakob's wide-eyed, open-mouthed smile showed how impressed he was. He looked at Alison, excited to see what she would do.

But she made a face and shrugged. "It's mostly pretty destructive for an indoor show-and-tell…"

"Why don't you do the light thing?" suggested Bobby.

"I guess so," conceded Alison, and raised her hand palm-upward nonchalantly to the height of her shoulder. Her hand began to glow with a bright red energy - Jakob could swear he saw her veins burning orange through the skin - and a small dot of white-hot light appeared hovering above her palm, expanding outward to the size of a baseball, bathing everything in a glow so bright it made Jakob squint. A few seconds later, Alison closed her hand and the light disappeared, and her skin returned to normal. She smiled a little at Jakob's awe. "That's kind of a bonus ability. I mostly control molten rock. Beast says my power is 'geothermal'. So I'm Magma."

"Oh my God, you guys," Jakob looked back and forth between the two blonds excitedly. "That is so _freaking cool._"He was practically vibrating. Talking to the adults earlier, it hadn't really hit him. But now he was beginning to understand. There really were people going through _exactly the same thing_ as he was. There would be other kids who had felt like freaks. Other kids who had wondered if they could ever let people into their true lives. Other kids who were just learning to cope with extraordinary circumstances, effectively entering a secondary adolescence, unwittingly opening a whole new life with an uncharted future and a separate, undiscovered set of rules…"So everyone around here is seriously a mutant?"

Bobby shrugged. "Yeah. Well, probably not, like, the janitor. Unless he has the power to control garbage or something. Come to think of it, he's the only one and the place is always spotless…"

Alison and Jakob both laughed.

"I've heard he's got alchemic transmutation, and that's how Professor X has the money to keep the school running," Alison joked. "Solid gold gum wrappers."

"Golden spitballs," Bobby offered.

"Golden pencil shavings?" Jakob ventured.

Bobby grinned devilishly. "Golden used condoms from Scott and Jean's room."

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEW!" Alison screamed as she fell over cackling. "Oh my God, noooooo…"

Jakob raised his eyebrows and laughed along with the pair of them, even if he wasn't completely in on it, overwhelmed by gratitude and eagerness to share in the joke. If every student was like these two, maybe he was in the right place. They quickly filled him in on who was doing what with whom, what the X-Men were (proudly explaining that the two of them went on some of the missions, which made them special), which classes to avoid and which teachers were best. As they continued to talk and laugh into the night, Jakob made up his mind to see Beast in the morning, and possibly sit in on a few classes. And he could swear that once or twice, the way Bobby looked at him…well, it was worth sticking around for a little while, at least.

.

.

.

A few hours later, after Jakob, Alison and Bobby had said their goodnights and split up to their own dormitories on the second floor for the night, Jakob undressed and got into bed. He did not sleep well; he woke frequently for long periods, but he didn't mind. He'd gotten his rest, and now his head was full of Alison and Bobby (and what the blond boy might look like with his shirt off) and thoughts about what he was already considering, in spite of the many fears that still nagged him, his new life. He even wondered what he might be able to do with his powers if he could learn to control them better. He imagined there must be some pretty cool possibilities, and he practiced levitating the desk lamp, floating and flipping it around the room until he could drift off to sleep again.

Early the next morning, Jakob dressed in his only jeans and shirt and went downstairs to Jean's office to ask her where he could find Beast and the med lab. He passed several students on the way, and they all eyed him curiously - some must have known about him already, and some he assumed were just interested to see the new kid.

He knocked on the office door and opened it to poke his head in - seated across from Jean, turning to look at the intruder were Jakob's parents.

Jean told Jakob his parents felt they needed to visit the school and see him before they could decide to allow him to stay, and she excused herself. Jakob immediately asked if they had heard about his classmates. Some were in hospital, most of those able to be released shortly, but they hadn't heard about Emmy yet.

Mrs. Novak did try to convince Jakob to come home, but she seemed half-hearted, and Jakob knew she felt powerless to help him understand himself now and could see her realizing that Xavier's would be the best place for him. His father asked him why he couldn't just come home and pretend he didn't have strange abilities, and nobody would have to know, but Jakob - unable to help himself and more angrily than he meant to - informed Mr. Novak that this was not an option. Mom and Dad shook their heads, hugged him, and revealed the suitcase of his things they'd packed and brought for him - "just in case". And so they left, with Jakob promising to call once in a while.

When they had gone, Jean returned to take Jakob to the sub-basement.

"Students aren't allowed down here, strictly speaking," she told him in the elevator, which had appeared from concealment behind an unremarkable wall panel in the hall. "But more frequently than we'd like, special needs do arise."

The elevator stopped, and the door opened into a sterile, silvery-blue corridor. Jean stepped out and led Jakob through it - the round door to the MedLab was open, as Beast was expecting them, and as they came into view he put down a clipboard and smiled.

Jakob was startled and amused to find out his imagination had been more or less right - here was the great hairy Beast in a lab coat and glasses, smiling a friendly, fanged smile as they entered.

"Good morning!" Beast waved brightly.

"Jakob, meet Dr. Hank McCoy," said Jean.

"Oh, we're old friends," cried Beast, seizing Jakob's hand and pumping it enthusiastically in his massive paw. "I do sincerely apologize for our meeting yesterday, circumstances were of course less than ideal and I am sure I startled you."

Jakob shook his head, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth as inwardly he rather wanted to burst out laughing at the absurdity of the unlikely blue brick house of contradictions before him. "It's no problem. Nice to meet you again."

"I'll be in the professor's office," Jean nodded at Beast and placed a hand briefly on Jakob's shoulder as she left.

Beast got right to work in his state-of-the-art lab, full of equipment Jakob couldn't hope to name. A blood sample finger-prick and fifteen minutes spent horizontally in a weird neural scanner later, Jakob stood up at Beast's command and the doctor fastened a funny chrome helmet with some blinking parts to the teen's head.

"Now I'd like you to oblige me with a demonstration," Beast stood back, taking up his clipboard again and moving behind a computer interface. "As I understand, you can manipulate any kind of metal. Do you have any idea to what degree?"

Jakob didn't fully understand how to answer the question, and he frowned, puzzled. "Well, I can move stuff around."

Beast nodded. "Please show me. Use that," he pointed with his pen to a silver tea tray on a table across the room, with a kettle and teacup on it.

Jakob nodded and focused his attention. It was really like flexing a muscle, he thought as he extended his arm and felt the tingle that always accompanied. With little difficulty, he reached out his invisible arm of magnetic force and raised the tea tray, floating it carefully around the room so as not to drop the cup or kettle.

Beast nodded at his computer screen and jotted something on his clipboard. He looked up at Jakob, who held the tray suspended in midair. "Would you mind pouring me some? Without putting it down, please."

Jakob chuckled, and brought his other hand up to facilitate focusing some more energy on the kettle, which prompted a "hm" from Beast, who watched as Jakob's kettle hand mimicked the movement of grasping the handle, lifting it from the tray, and tilting it toward the cup. Jakob poured successfully, and let the kettle down onto the tray, then levitated the tray over to Beast, who gingerly grasped the cup's handle between his thumb and forefinger.

"Hm," Beast said again with the cup near his lips. "It's still cold. We'll have to heat the kettle. But first, a question," he placed the cup back onto the tray. "When you move these objects, do you imagine that the energy is an extension of your corporeal limbs?"

Jakob nodded, still maintaining his influence over the tray. "Yeah. It's like having big ghost arms or something."

"What if you imagined the energy in a different shape?" Beast tilted his furry head to the side. "You might find your options open considerably. I hypothesize that you're only limited by what you can imagine. Merely a suggestion. But for now, I want to try something advanced. You may set the tray down."

Jakob guided the tea set back to its original place on the table.

"Try heating the kettle."

Jakob looked at Beast, and shrugged. "How do I do that?"

Beast lowered his spectacles down his nose and raised his bushy black eyebrows. "I do not know. But sometimes a mutant with a power like yours is able to manipulate the very molecules in their element of influence." Beast left out the part about this being incredibly difficult and only achieved by mutants of extreme control over their abilities with many years of practice - the only one he knew to have achieved it being Magneto himself - so as not to intimidate Jakob and affect the results, but he little expected the boy to be able to do it.

Jakob turned again to the teapot. He held his hands close to his chest as if there were an imaginary globe between them, instinctively feeling that this was best for guiding the energy somehow; he focused hard and he attempted to flex that invisible muscle, but it was like willfully bending a knee backwards - it felt like the necessary dexterity simply didn't exist. Jakob's chest started to heat up, and his eyes began to ache.

Beast watched as beads of sweat formed on Jakob's forehead.

Jakob knitted his brows, opened his mouth, panted. The kettle began to vibrate, creating a clatter against the tray - Beast made a note.

The teacup bounced off the tray and smashed on the floor, splashing water. Sweat rolled down his face, but Jakob suddenly thought he might be almost getting there and increased the force - and with a loud BANG the kettle exploded! Metallic bits of shrapnel zinged off in all directions and Beast ducked behind his machine as Jakob reflexively covered his eyes.

Jakob dropped to his knees and wrested the helmet apparatus off his head, breathing hard. A few seconds later, Beast's blue face poked cautiously up from behind his computer interface, surveying the damage, most of which was thankfully to the obliterated kettle. He climbed to his feet.

He pressed a button on the console in front of him and looked at Jakob, whose apologetic and hopeless expression made Beast chuckle. "Believe it or not," Beast quipped, "that is actually a good sign."

.

.

.

The massive blast door too heavy for any human to move burst open and the three mutants stormed in. The older, white-haired man turned, hands clasped behind his back.

"Good news, I trust," he stated, rather than asked, smilingly.

"I'm afraid not," said the foremost mutant, a female, with reptilian yellow eyes and scaly blue skin. "We were expected."

The man's expression instantly turned dark. "Did we not expect to be expected?" he began, his voice rising until he was thundering. "Did I neglect to impress on you the importance of this mission?" The blast door slammed shut and the dim lighting began to flicker, and all manner of metallic objects littered about the room flew up into the air and pointed at the hapless crew before him.

"We were outnumbered," snarled a large, clawed and fang-toothed feral male mutant. He growled, but his elderly superior could hear the fear in his voice. "A lot."

A folding metal chair flew across the room and smashed into the back of the hairy feral's head with a CLAUNK under force that would certainly have knocked an ordinary man out cold. The mutant yelped in pain, and cowered.

The old man began to march forward, raging with murder in his eyes. "Well now there's only _me, _Sabretooth. Care to find out if the odds are better now you've come back empty-handed?"

As entertaining as she thought it would be to hold her tongue and watch her boss take their failure out on Sabretooth, the blue-skinned mutant raised a hand. "Not entirely empty handed."

The other male mutant behind her, a young man, red-haired and attractive though with looks rather spoiled by a malicious intensity, chimed in. "Toad?"

A stooped, greenish-skinned, ugly mutant in filthy, torn clothing shuffled backward into the room. His grotesquely long tongue extended out the door beyond sight, but as he dragged it inside, the elderly leader could see that rolled up in it, trapped, was a young girl.

Her big blue eyes were wide and round with terror, her blonde hair damp from struggling. She wriggled and gagged, screaming screams muffled by the moist appendage.

"'Ad a 'ellufa time catching dis wun," the green mutant said around his extended tongue.

The old man raised a threatening eyebrow at the blue-skinned female as if to tell her that he had better be impressed in the next few seconds, or somebody was dead.

She took his cue and turned around, nodding at Toad to release the girl, which he did with a _shluuurrrp _of his tongue as it whipped back inside his head. The girl immediately shrieked, and the blue mutant grabbed the girl by the back of her sweater collar and hauled her upright. She raised a hand and made to strike the shaking blonde.

It was then that the girl's skin shimmered, and became living diamond.

The blue woman looked over her shoulder at her boss, searching desperately in his face for a sign of leniency.

He only squinted at the girl for a rather long time - but for some reason she stopped struggling, looking intently back at him.

He smiled. "Mystique? Toad? Sabretooth? Pyro? This young lady's name is Emma Frost. Please see to her utmost comfort immediately."

.

.

.

.

**So yeah, Jakob's best friend Emmy was Emma Frost all along! WhooooaaaaaahZA. Betcha didn't see that coming. Actually you probably did. So obviously in the universe of this fic Emma Frost is a seventeen year old girl. Now you know.  
**


End file.
